NEW PRODUCT ALERT!Teas To Benefit The Jane Goodall Institute
From Choice Organic Teas

Choice Organic Teas, the first exclusively organic tea crafter in the United States and the first in the country to introduce Fair Trade Certified™ teas, recently announced that they have been selected to carry the Jane Goodall “Good for All” brand on its new product line extension. The “Good for All” brand features the name and image of renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace. Select companies have received the honor of carrying the brand after JGI reviewed several criteria to determine whether the companies’ philosophies blend with the Institute’s. JGI created the “Good for All” brand in 2007 to recognize companies and environmentally conscious products that reflect Dr. Goodall’s core values.

Choice Organic Teas is adding five new varieties to its original line and will donate a percentage of the profits of each box to support JGI. Oothu Garden Green, Wild Forest Black, Decaffeinated English Breakfast, Rooibos Superfruit and Yerba Maté Mint form an exceptional collection of flavorful teas sourced from four different continents. They were developed especially for this project to celebrate the universal passion for tea while supporting JGI and CHOICE ORGANIC TEAS’ continued leadership in social and environmental sustainability.

The Jane Goodall Institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The Institute is also widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, the global environmental and humanitarian youth program that empowers young people around the world to make positive change happen—for our communities, for animals and for the environment.

“We are honored to support the Jane Goodall Institute as we share many of the same goals – such as conservation, sustainability and education – and seek to be good stewards of the earth’s precious resources,” said Ray Lacorte, head of operations for CHOICE ORGANIC TEAS. “When consumers purchase any of our new teas, they have the satisfaction of knowing their dollars are helping to protect endangered wildlife and their habitats, while also equipping the next generation to take up the torch for conservation.”

CHOICE ORGANIC TEAS’ Newest Additions

Oothu Garden Green (Green Tea) – A sophisticated and inspiring single estate tea from one of the first organic and Fair Trade Certified™ tea gardens in India. The surrounding rainforest is home to a tiger reserve and many other endangered animals including the lion-tailed macaque, a primate endemic to this specific region.

Wild Forest Black (Black Tea) – An energizing rare wild tea with a smooth, yet hearty flavor. Leaves are plucked from ancient tea trees (500 years old or more) growing deep in the forests of Southeast Asia. Only recently have these teas been made available to the rest of the world due to recent efforts by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to develop a positive alternative economy for the region as a solution to the illegal drug market.

Decaffeinated English Breakfast (Decaf Black Tea) – A traditional British blend of Indian teas decaffeinated using carbon dioxide, the only certified organic method. The taste of this tea is hearty and satisfying, yet bold and brisk.

Rooibos Superfruit (Herbal Tea) – Paired with fruit, this jewel-toned red tea is slightly sweet, full of flavor and refreshing. Grown in South Africa’s Cederberg Mountains, rooibos has long been prized for its restorative qualities. Hibiscus, rosehips, orange, and schizandra berry are known for their high levels of vitamin C.

As with all of its teas, these new varieties of Choice Organic Teas are certified organic, certified kosher, and gluten-free. They are also verified by The Non-GMO Project and four of the five are Fair Trade Certified™. The teas will be available at all participating natural and specialty grocery stores with a suggested retail price of $4.69 for a 16-count box. The teas will be available to retailers in September 2010 and to consumers in October 2010.

For more information about Choice Organic Teas visit www.choiceorganicteas.com. For more info about the Jane Goodall Institute or to make a donation, please visit www.janegoodall.org.

Organic coffee has become the beverage of choice in food service establishments ranging from highway convenience stores to fast-food chains. It is also offered in college dining halls, the National Zoo and Smithsonian cafeterias, destination spas, and some of the nation’s finest restaurants. According to the Organic Coffee Collaboration, a project of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the greater availability comes as consumers increasingly adopt all things “green,” and roasters work with restaurateurs to create special blends for a wide variety of demanding palates.

In an increasing number of cases, restaurants are offering organic coffees on menus akin to wine lists. They also are becoming the choice of college-branded coffee offerings. In other cases, the roaster or retailer has decided to use organic coffee to increase the quality of its offerings without telling consumers.

The response has helped drive the North American organic coffee market to more than 1.4 billion dollars in 2009, according to a recent study by leading market analyst Daniele Giovannucci The average annual growth rate of 21 percent for organic coffee documented by Giovannucci in the five years from 2004 to 2009 dwarfed the estimated one percent annual growth of the conventional coffee industry and continued to grow despite the recession.

And no wonder – organic coffee has become synonymous with quality. According to the results of Cup of Excellence cuppings coordinated by the U.S.-based Alliance for Coffee Excellence, organic coffees were from several of the winning farms in five countries in 2009: Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. In fact, the highest ranking attained all year was for organic coffee from the Bolivian farm Agrotakesi SA, earning 93.96 points, more than a full point above the next highest ranking coffee that year.

According to OTA’s Executive Director Christine Bushway, “Restaurants’ increased interest in organic coffee mirrors the increasing presence of organic fruits and vegetables in restaurants of all kinds across the United States!”

Examples of roasters and retailers seeing their organic coffee sales increase in today’s restaurant world include:

Beantrees’ super premium organic coffees are served at the eight ultra-posh Central Market espresso bars throughout Texas, as well as exclusively at the UC Davis espresso Bar. Beantrees was voted the #1 coffee in Davis, California, for 2010. Also, Beantrees was served backstage in over 25 countries on The Police 2009 world tour.

Caffe Ibis organic coffee fine dining customers The Canyons in Park City and North Ogden’s Zucca’s Trattoria are being joined by Park City’s High West Distillery, SLC’s Chow Truck Asian haute cuisine, local rave Red Iguana, and design winner Vento’s in redefining the new organic, Fair Trade and “Bird-Friendly” coffee customer.

Control Union Certifications (CU) is a leading certification body with offices in more than 50 countries certifying coffee from farm level to food service. In North America, CU services include organic and Fair Trade inspections for coffee roasters and distributors including UTZ chain of custody audits.

Equator Coffees & Tea’s restaurant partners are increasingly offering their patrons certified organic coffees emphasizing quality and sustainability versus high yield. It has created a special certified organic Jardinière blend for Jardinière restaurant in San Francisco and a blend emphasizing organic Ethiopian Sidamo for Per Se in New York City.

Golden Valley Farms Coffee Roasters offers dual-certified organic and bird-friendly coffee at more than 400 food service operations ranging from traditional eateries to convenience stores, diners, and coffee shops, as well as the National Zoo cafés, which have seen sales double in the year since converting from conventional coffee.

Green Mountain Coffee® supplies organic coffee to Bruegger’s Bakery Cafés, national parks (through Xanterra Parks & Resorts), and hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide. It also supplies Newman’s Own® Organics coffee to over 600 McDonald’s restaurants in the Northeast U.S.

S&D Coffee provides organic and other sustainable coffees to 600 convenience stores, museums cafés, and college and corporate campuses nationally. Five Smithsonian Institution museum cafés along with restaurants nationwide are featuring its organic, Fair Trade, and Bird Friendly® blend, which has received praise for its quality.

Although many devoted tea-drinkers find great pleasure in sipping these aromatic cups, “herbal teas” are not officially teas. In the world of tea, only teas made from the Camellia sinensis plant is considered real tea.

Rather, “herbal teas” are single or blended infusions of leaves, fruits, bark roots or flowers of almost any edible, non-tea plant. In Europe, herb teas or blends are commonly known as tisanes.

Something Interesting to Consider…
Within the herbal family is the wonder herb rooibos or Red Tea. Known for its high levels of health-boosting polyphenols and flavonoids, Red Tea is a South African herb cultivated only in the mountains and valleys of the Cedarberg region near Cape Town. Sip and you’ll taste a faintly sweet cup with a mellow character and no bitterness.

Coffee Drinkers Getting
It At Home Survey Shows 35% Believe They
Make the Best Coffee at Home

A recent coffee survey conducted by Barista Bath and Body, a luxurious new coffee-inspired hair and skin care line, shows that coffee drinkers have continued to fulfill their java fix, despite the recession, even though nearly 60 percent say they somewhat or significantly cut back their coffee house visits.

Most drink one to two cups of coffee per day (54.5 %), but about eight percent consume more than five cups a day. An amazing 62.5% profess they consume 25% or less of their coffee outside the home.

Although nearly 15.6% said they decreased their coffee house visits significantly due to the recession, Starbucks followers seem to be more loyal with only 12.3% claiming they significantly reduced their visits to the chains.

Seventy-two percent of consumers like to drink their favorite cup of joe at home. In fact, 35.7% consider themselves home-grown baristas, stating that they brew the best coffee, bar none. Survey results varied widely when responders were asked which retailer made the best coffee.

Coffee ON the Body?

In addition to coffee for drinking, many survey respondents had heard of the topical benefits of coffee: 64.9% of respondents reported being aware of the topical benefits of caffeine/coffee, but most had little to no understanding of what those benefits are. Only 5.2% were aware that caffeine has been shown to protect against UV skin damage and just 11% were aware that caffeine has been reported to stimulate hair growth.

A java jolt for the shower

When asked which coffee-inspired bath and body products they would try, consumers responded with these top three: shampoo, 66.9%, conditioner, 62.2% and scrub, 54.7%. Approximately half of all respondents were willing to try coffee-inspired shower gel, cream, lip balm and soap.

Published studies have documented the benefits of the topical application of coffee and its major constituent, caffeine. Barista Bath and Body products are formulated with organic coffee, coffee extract and essential oils to maximize the revitalizing benefits of coffee.

Coffee, along with caffeine – its major ingredient - has the following advantages. It:

• Features a pH balance similar to the human body, meaning that it cleans better than ordinary soap or shampoo

Super-charged for your skin and hair, Barista Bath and Body products offer the perfect indulgence for beauty addicts and coffee fanatics alike, and appeal equally to both women and men. The line includes shampoo, conditioner, gel, body scrub, body crème, soap, mist and lip balm; all are available at www.baristabathandbody.com

Other Data: The “skinny” on coffee types, flavors, holiday choices and more:

Flavored or regular, iced or hot, specialty gourmet or supermarket brands, coffee is a popular beverage in many forms and continues to evolve to meet the wants of consumers since it was introduced more than a thousand years ago. Here is additional insight on coffee drinkers in a “bean shell”:

• The most popular coffee machine owned is automatic, 79.2%

• The supermarket is the most common place for coffee purchases for in-house use, 68.2%

• Pre-ground coffee was the number one choice for brewing at home (53.9%) with whole bean a close second (48.1%)

• Brewed or drip was the most popular drink type purchased, 20.6%

• The favorite holiday flavor is peppermint mocha, 22.1%

• According to 31.8%, bagels, toast and croissants are the perfect accompaniment to coffee

• You can’t have coffee talk without the phone. Of those with a Smartphone, 46.9% are iPhone users while Blackberry (30.3% ) and Droid (22.7%) users make up the other half

Barista Bath and Body is the first full line of natural hair and skin care products to leverage the benefits of coffee by making organic coffee a primary ingredient in its flagship products.

Barista Bath and Body was envisioned and launched by three successful businesswomen inspired by coffee and determined to bring performance-driven natural beauty products to the marketplace. The mission of Barista Bath and Body is “…to offer bath and body products that are natural, safe and effective and promote the body’s inherent ability to heal and rejuvenate…”

Barista Bath and Body is headquartered in Portland, Ore., with offices in Orange County, California. Contact Barista Bath and Body for more details about the survey and the interesting findings drawn from responders. www.baristabathandbody.com

What happens when East meets West? With the amazing pairing of Chinese tea and Western desserts, it becomes a sweet new fusion.

Guests for the two hour event will enjoy a gourmet prix fixe menu prepared by Fang Gourmet Tea. The prix fixe includes 4 sets of tea and desserts. In this set menu, each tea is paired with a dessert that creates the best duet to bring out the best flavor and essence in each other. Presenting gourmet desserts by baker Tawny Ong (featured on Fox Business News, Time Out New York, New York Fashion Show, and Mayor's Lunar New Year Reception)

Coffee and tea lovers will unite once again at the 6th annual Coffee And Tea Festival NYC on February 19th & 20th, 2011. The event is open to the public and the trade. This international extravaganza will offer the consumer attendees an opportunity to sample different coffees and teas from around the world and will introduce the coffee and tea retailer attendees to the industry’s major players. Chocolates and sweet treats will offer a wonderful compliment to the spectacular collection of coffees and teas.

Featured on the Food Network’s hit show Unwrapped, the festival will offer an educational aspect as well. The event will offer two days of fun and interactive classes/lectures/demos from well-known industry pros and pioneers.